Mushroom tarts with goats cheese and onion marmelade (V)

Nice and simple. You can prepare the filling and everything ahead, then just stick it in the oven at the last minute. Some crisp lardons are a good addition as well, for die-hard carnivores.

If you don't have any onion marmelade, roughly chop four onions and fry over a low heat in olive oil with a tsp of sugar until soft and golden. Turn off the heat and stir in a tbsp of good balsamic vinegar and leave to cool.

Serves 4 as a starter

150g puff pastry

250g mixed mushrooms

2 large onions

100g crumbly goats cheese

a sprig of thyme, leaves only

4 tbsp onion marmelade

olive oil or butter for frying

1 egg, beaten

Heat the oil or butter in a frying pan. Chop the onions and fry over a medium heat until softened. Meanwhile, slice the mushrooms. Remove the onions from the pan with a slotted spoon, turn the heat up, and add the mushrooms and thyme. You will probably need to add some more oil or butter at this stage as mushrooms soak up an awful lot whilst cooking. When the mushrooms are cooked, golden in places, add them to the onions and mix together.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Roll the pastry out thinly and cut into four squares of about 10-15cm. Lay the pastry on a baking sheet and score lines about 1 cm from the edges. Pile the onion and mushroom mixture in the middle of the pastry squares and spread out, coming just up to, but not touching the score lines. Brush the pastry edges with beaten egg.

Bake for about 10 minutes, when the pastry will be nicely risen and pale gold in colour. Crumble over the goats cheese and return to the oven for about 5 minutes more until the cheese is semi-melted, bubbling in places and the pastry a pleasing golden-brown.